A draft self-government agreement for Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę says the Indigenous government could ultimately replace the Town of Norman Wells, N.W.T., as the local government — but only once Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę members make up a certain percentage of the town’s population.
Two weeks ago it was announced that the self-government negotiations for the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę had reached a milestone, as all parties initialled a draft final agreement.
The next step is community ratification, which is allowing members and leaders to vote on whether they support the draft agreement or not. If they vote in favour of it, it would be made into territorial and federal legislation and the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę would become the latest Indigenous government in the N.W.T.
But it would different from other Indigenous governments, like Délı̨nę, because of the town’s demographics.
According to the N.W.T. bureau of statistics, in 2023 the town of Norman Wells had a population of 763, of which 294 — less than half — are Dene and Métis.
N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson says if it is implemented, the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę will just be responsible for its own membership at first while the town government will still administer services for everyone.
“And then once there’s a certain threshold met to where the population reaches a certain percentage of members in the community then they can, if they wish to, move forward and become the community government.”
The agreement-in-principle states that the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę membership needs to reach at least 70 per cent of the total population of Norman Wells before it can become the public government.
It can request to become the public government before that percentage is reached, but requires consent from Canada and the N.W.T. government.
If and when that transition becomes official, the town of Norman Wells would be dissolved and the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę will take over all its lands, facilities and responsibilities.
The agreement-in-principle says that a legislative council, composed of a leader and council, would then be responsible for the administration of Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę Government.
A certain percentage of the council seats will need to be held by non-Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę members.
If the percentage of Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę citizens is less than 75 per cent of Norman Wells’s population, then only three of five council seats can be held by Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę citizens. If there are 11 council seats, only up to six seats can be held by citizens.
If the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę members make up over 85 per cent of the local population, if there are five seats, still only three can be held by Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę citizens.
But if there is as many as 11 seats, then up to eight can be held by Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę citizens.
What services will Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę be responsible for?
If it goes into effect, the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę would be responsible for everything that the current municipal government is in charge of including taxation.
But as an Indigenous government it will have other responsibilities, according to the agreement-in-principle, including language and culture preservation, and traditional healing.
It will also be responsible for education, including post-secondary, kindergarten to Grade 12, adult education, training of citizens and early childhood education.
The Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę will be responsible for adoption, child and family services, income support, social housing, guardianship and trusteeship, wills and estates, marriage and settlement lands.
‘A huge milestone’
Settling self-government was a major priority highlighted by N.W.T. Premier R.J. Simpson when he was sworn in a year ago.
“This is a huge milestone, not just for the community, for the people, but for governance in the territory and for reconciliation,” Simpson told CBC News last week.
“So it’s one step. There’s a lot more to come though. And so just seeing this a year into the term, it does give me a lot of hope that we’re going to be making a lot of progress across the territory in these negotiations.”
He says settled self-government agreements can also be an economic boost.
“It creates some certainty as well around authorities, which again is important for investors looking at the territory,” Simpson said.
Ethel Blondin-Andrew, the chief negotiator for the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’įnę, said being on the negotiating team was a “big responsibility.”
“We feel good about it,” she said. “We have one big step that we’ve taken and there’s still all this work to do.”
Although it’s closer to being settled, it’s not a done deal.
In 2019, the Tulita Yamoria Community Secretariat walked away from a self-government agreement it had initialled two years earlier alongside the federal government and the territorial government.
CBC News reached out to Sherry Hodgson, the president of the Tłegǫ́hłı̨ Got’ine Government Inc., about initialling the agreement, but she wasn’t interested in speaking for the story.
